SP Business School

SP Business School

Singapore Polytechnic Career and Further Education Fair 2015 - KPMG

The Singapore Polytechnic Career and Further Education Fair 2015 was held on 11th November 2015 to provide students with essential information so they can make better informed choices for their post-poly life. To suit the many different types of path we might take, there were several further educational institutions and over 50 companies from different various industries participating. Being an accounting student, it is needless to say that my ideal career path would be to join a Big4 Audit Firm and so I visited the KMPG booth.

Within the short interaction session with the auditors of KPMG, I have learned and obtained many insights and information. The first burning question which many accountancy students could have is usually regarding the importance of a degree in the industry. To that question, KPMG clarified that a degree is indeed important as a minimum entry requirement but completing any recognised professional qualification like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has an equal standing as a degree. In other words, if we cannot make it to university, we can still take the professional qualification pathway and will still be offered a job in Big4 Companies like KPMG. Hence, there are actually plenty of opportunities for us!

Next, many students perceive the auditing as a career which has no work life balance. Well actually, work life balance is a very subjective term and it differs from each individual. At the start of our career, while wanting to progress as fast as possible in our career, we must definitely work much harder. There might seem to have an absence of work life balance at that point but as we get promoted, greater work life balance gradually comes in when we need not work as hard as before with our high salary. Therefore, it’s similar to the concept of “Work now, Enjoy later” and thus, all of us should not be deterred to choose auditing career just because of the hearsay of “No work life balance”.

Finally, I have found out more about the career progressive in a typical BIG4 Auditing company. All the fresh graduates or professional qualification holders usually start at Associate 1 for around 2 years before being promoted to Senior Associate. After 3 years of hard work, we can be promoted to become an Assistant Manager. In other words, if we work hard enough, our promotion in big 4 companies will be relatively consistent as well!

In conclusion, visiting the KPMG broadened my understanding of the BIG4 companies and I would definitely want to join a big 4 company. Although I still have a long way to go, it is never too early to plan and understand what I am doing into the same goes for all my other peers